


Faith and Silence Not Already Tested

by orphan_account



Series: Cotton Candy Bingo [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Community: cottoncandy_bingo, Gen, Hale Family Feels, Pack Feels, Wild Card Square
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-22
Updated: 2012-10-22
Packaged: 2017-11-16 19:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/543159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tirelessly, his pack—all of them, no one avoids asking—will inquire and wonder and prod and poke and ask.</p>
<p>
  <i>Why do you insist on keeping him around?</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith and Silence Not Already Tested

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know I was just like, blasted by these Peter/Derek family feels? So, I vented. Some artistic liberties taken on Derek’s past, and also I’m counting this as my wild card on my cotton candy bingo card because it’s probably a little cavity inducing~

The rest of the pack asks him, often. Over and over again, they ask him why, why, why. And Derek finds himself unable to give them a straight answer.

“ _He's necessary,”_ he'll say.

“ _He's pack,_ ” Derek will claim.

“ _It's my decision.”_ Derek demands.

“ _I'm the alpha,”_ always mentioned in a soft but commanding voice.

Tirelessly, his pack—all of them, no one avoids asking—will inquire and wonder and prod and poke and _ask_.

_Why do you insist on keeping him around?_

And Peter hears them, each time they ask. Each time Stiles leans in too close, each time Scott awkwardly and too loudly asks, each time Lydia examines her nails and casually asks, even Jackson will ask but write it off as an apologetic slip of the tongue. Peter hears them each time, it's impossible for him not to.

And every time they ask,

“ _Why him?”_

“ _Why not kill him?”_

“ _Don't you remember what he did to you?”_

And every time they ask, Derek will glance at Peter, and give them an answer that isn't quite a lie, and isn't quite the truth.

But, when Derek is alone and the large Hale mansion is empty save him and Peter, Derek will answer. He'll answer the trees and the burnt down walls, the ghosts of their pasts, he'll give the answer away to those who can't tell anyone else.

He doesn't kill Peter or reject him, he doesn't cast him out as a lone omega, because Derek _does_ remember. He remembers his Uncle Peter who did Laura's hair for her first middle school dance; who watched the kids when Derek's parents needed a date night or a long run in the woods. Derek remembers the Peter who did the best voices in all the best bedtime stories. Derek remembers Peter's cooking, his fondness for his late wife and the growing fondness for the lonely nurse at the local hospital with an absolutely ridiculous son.

Derek remembers the Peter who, amidst ash and falling timber, amongst fire and ruin and his family, tried to save those he could. Derek remembers that while Peter failed, Peter _tried_. Which is more than Derek did, that fateful night of the fire.

Derek hasn't and will never forget Peter's misdeeds. That would be impossible to do. But, he remembers more vividly the way Peter used to smile, instead of leer; the way Peter would laugh instead of cackle.

Derek remembers and knows more about Peter than the rest of the pack, and it's the good things—however minimal they may seem to others—that allow Derek to keep Peter close with only a slightly uneasy conscience. And, each day that the pack decides to ask, Peter will visit Derek in his burnt husk of a bedroom. He'll bring with him his eReader, and despite Derek's protests he'll read all the best bedtime stories, using all the best voices.

_Why, why, why_ the pack asks. And someday Derek will tell them, but not yet.


End file.
